AFL must be transparent on Gold Coast recruitment

 
Ben Somerford Columnist

By , 26 Feb 2010 Ben Somerford is a Roar Expert

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Brisbane Broncos rugby league player Karmichael Hunt poses with a Gold Coast AFL franchise jersey following a press conference on the Gold Coast, Tuesday, July 28, 2009, to announce his three year contract with new AFL franchise Gold Coast Football Club. Hunt will commence his AFL playing career in May 2010 . AAP Image/Patrick Hamilton

In the wake of Paul Roos’s comments on the AFL’s decision to allow Gold Coast to keep their summer acquisitions confidential, Port Adelaide midfielder Travis Boak’s ‘supposed flirtation’ with Gold Coast highlights the inevitable results for out of contract players under such a policy.

Last week, newspaper reports linked Boak with a move to the AFL’s 17th club, with the 21-year-old’s current contract at Alberton due to expire at the season’s end, just in time for Gold Coast’s arrival in 2011.

But Boak responded on Thursday: “I’ve been reading about it in the newspaper and it’s been interesting reading, but I just laugh it off. I have no real interest at all in going there, so it’s funny reading about it.”

Considering his reaction, it is hard to imagine where the speculation came from.

But such is the system, out-of-contract players will be linked with a move to Queensland’s glitter strip. Questions will be asked, ‘why else haven’t they re-signed?’

Just last week, Sydney coach Paul Roos raised this topic publicly with much criticism aimed at the AFL.

This came after it was revealed that the AFL had approved a summer window for Gold Coast to approach AFL-listed players and gain their commitment for the 2011 season.

It is believed up to six AFL players made such a commitment, despite being contracted elsewhere for 2010.

And it is also understood, the AFL has decided the names of these players should be kept secret until the end of the 2010 regular season.

This is what irritated Roos most.

The Swans mentor commented: “My message is that if the AFL and the AFL Players’ Association are saying that it’s within the rules and there’s nothing wrong with it, come out and tell us who the players are.

“If you’re ashamed of it and you want to hide behind it, then obviously they think there’s something wrong with it as well.”

Roos, along with West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett, went onto argue they’d let any of their players leave now if they’d already committed to GC for 2011.

The latter part is probably an over-reaction, but Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna’s subsequent show of sympathy for his rivals reflected the reality of the situation. It is far from ideal. We already know that from observing similar occurrences in the NRL and the A-League.

But the AFL’s decision to ‘hide’ the names of those AFL-listed players who’ve already committed to Gold Coast ignites the situation.

Players such as Boak, who will come out of contract for 2011, will be the subject of much speculation and intense pressure. That is inevitable.

Intensifying that is the AFL’s decision not to be transparent and honest about Gold Coast’s recruitment as, after all, up to six AFL-listed players have made the choice.

Journalists will be chasing the story, as there is up to six stories there waiting to be exclusively discovered and told.

Indeed, players coming out of contract will need to make similar statements to Boak’s to avoid media attention and those who’ve already committed to Gold Coast won’t be able to do so.

Inevitably, they’ll be hounded with media attention during the regular season and, you fancy, through a process of elimination their identities will eventually be revealed.

Perhaps they’d have been better advised to admit to their decisions during the off-season, but as the examples of Roos and Nisbett show, some clubs wouldn’t have reacted well to that, potentially creating a PR problem for the AFL if players were dismissed.

But down the path the AFL has chosen, you fancy it’ll be difficult anyway to keep the secret.

The subsequent damage to reputations could be serious, because as Roos commented, the AFL’s policy to ‘hide’ the names of these players suggests there’s something wrong or immoral about making such a decision so early.

Throw in mid-season media pressure and it’s clear it could be a rocky road ahead for those Gold Coast-bound AFL-listed players.

The AFL must take note of the situation during the 2010 regular season, especially with Team GWS’s introduction in 2012. It is far from ideal, unnecessary and avoidable.

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